Need the knowledge please!

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Originally Posted by E-Stat

It is very expensive to get truly low noise high gain tube preamps, especially where phono is concerned. The Audio Research REF40 uses eight tubes for a line stage while Conrad-Johnson uses ten tubes in the ART line stage. Add another four for a phono stage.
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I had no idea! Ten (!) tubes for a CJ line stage. Does it have tube rectification?

My Sonic Frontiers is all-tube except for rectification. Its fully balanced and still uses only 6 tubes.

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Originally Posted by Feanor

I had no idea! Ten (!) tubes for a CJ line stage. Does it have tube rectification?

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Most preamp designs employ separate output and buffer stages to provide sufficiently low output impedance. With the ART, however, each channel uses five tubes in parallel to lower the output impedance in a single stage triode output. Simple and elegant. Power supply is solid state.

Conceptually, there are similarities to the approach Nelson Pass took with my Stasis power amp. Each channel uses sixteen output devices for 100 watts output. Four outputs are used for the class A voltage amp which operates to about 5 watts. Class A designs minimize current based nonlinearities. The other eight are cascoded outputs for the current mirror. Cascoding multiple devices freezes the voltage to minimize those non-linearities.

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Originally Posted by blackraven

Harley, I can tell you that after getting to do an in home audition of all three Van Alstine preamps- SS, Tube and HYbrid that the hybrid does do the best of both worlds. The hybrid has the most air, transparency with a smooth, warm midrange, good bass and treble with no roll off. The SS had the best bass and the Tube had the most warmth but the Hybrid had the best sound. Tube rolling let you fine tune the sound to your liking though.

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It has been something I have wondered about since I heard of the Hybrid preamps and amps a few years ago but since high end shops aren't around like they used to be it is hard to get to listen to stuff like that without buying it unless you have a company like VA to let you test drive their products in your own home which is almost unheard of and very cool I might add. But the concept seems cool. I think since I like my Nuforce preamp and it is class D and people have been talking up companies like Class D audio for their sound quality and price to performance ratio I am contemplating trying one of their amps or waiting on a Nuforce 9 v3 to become affordable on audiogon and pick one of them up but I have heard that the Class D audio's are better and way cheaper.

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Originally Posted by harley .guy07

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I think since I like my Nuforce preamp and it is class D and people have been talking up companies like Class D audio for their sound quality and price to performance ratio I am contemplating trying one of their amps or waiting on a Nuforce 9 v3 to become affordable on audiogon and pick one of them up but I have heard that the Class D audio's are better and way cheaper.

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I suspect it's not correct to describe you Nuforce preamp as class D; in general class D is a power amp technolgy, but maybe I'm wrong.

I have a Class D Audio SDS-258 and really like it. I can't say whether it's as nice as the Nuforce 9 V3 but I can say I prefer it to the Tripath-based class D Bel Canto I used to own.

The only way to know whether you like a class D amp is to try it, nor do all class D's sound the same. However it's probably typical that they are "neutral" sounding and transparent, and that they don't have the warmth or "tonal richness" of tube amps.

I am not addicted to the warmth that tube preamps and amps give so Class D not being "too warm" is not a problem for me since I prefer Neutral over warm any day and From some of the reviews of the Class D audio amps it would seem that I would like their sound and also be more power for my Dyns which like a lot of power and Their prices would save me money to boot.